4. Greg Walden statement on the situation in Harney County

HOOD RIVER – U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Hood River) today issued the following statement on the situation in Harney County:

“I’ve been in close contact with local and federal officials throughout this long standoff, and we had all hoped for a peaceful conclusion to the situation in Harney County. Sadly, our hopes were shattered with the shooting that occurred during last night’s arrest. While we wait to learn more details and next steps, we must keep the people of Harney County in our hearts as they are a strong community and have endured a great deal. Once again, I urge those who remain at the refuge to go home before anyone else gets hurt. And when this done and the cameras’ glare turns away from rural Oregon, the healing process will be a long one. Widespread frustration will continue until people in rural American feel like they are being heard and meaningful changes are made to federal land management policy.”

The law enforcement partners involved in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge will hold a press conference at 10:30 am on Wednesday, January 27th. Media may start setting up at 9:30 a.m. Location: Harney County Chamber of Commerce 484 N. Broadway Avenue Burns, OR 97720 Expected Participants: FBI, Special Agent in Charge Greg Bretzing United States Attorney’s Office, U.S. Attorney Bill Williams Harney County, Sheriff Dave Ward There are currently no plans by any agencies to do interviews outside of the press conference.

9. The Ensemble of Oregon, St. Peter’s Landmark, Jan. 31

The Ensemble of Oregon under the direction of Patrick McDonough, will present “Officium Defunctorum: Funeral Music for Maria of Spain, Holy Roman Empress” Sunday, January 31, 2016, in a 4 p.m. concert at St. Peter’s Landmark in The Dalles.

The concert is co-sponsored by Cascade Singers and St. Peter’s Landmark. Admission is by donation at the door.

The Ensemble is a professional vocal and instrumental chamber ensemble, based in the Portland area, equally at home tackling early music and modern works. Members share their talents with other well-known groups and events such as Portland Baroque Orchestra, Dale Warland Singers, Cantores in Ecclesia, Cappella Romana, the William Byrd Festival, and the Oregon Bach Festival.

The Spanish city of Avila produced two famous children: St. Teresa and Tomás Luis de Victoria, born there in 1548. Trained as a chorister in his home town, Victoria traveled to Rome in his late teens to pursue a career as a professional musician. He was a contemporary and colleague of Palestrina.

In his mid-thirties Victoria dedicated a book of masses to King Philip II of Spain with the hint that he wanted to return to his native country. In the 1580s he became composer and director of music at a convent in Madrid where he remained for the rest of his life. Some of his most radiant compositions were written during his later years.

The concert is built around Victoria’s six-voice setting of the “Officium Defunctorum,” the traditional services for the dead. It was composed as a memorial for Empress Maria of Austria, King Philip’s sister, who had retired back to Madrid after an illustrious political career as a Habsburg empress and patron of music. Her death in 1603 was commemorated all across Europe with lavish displays of music, poetry, and public mourning.

The music offered by the Ensemble would originally have been sung during a long series of services, starting with Matins before dawn and stretching on into the day. Victoria used traditional Gregorian chant, which is almost always present in one of the six voices, upon which he built his polyphonic compositions.

Unlike later romantic era Requiems, this funeral music has surprisingly little fire and brimstone, opting instead for a tone of hope and serene contemplation.

St. Peter’s Landmark, with its gothic vaulted, tinwork-clad ceiling, will provide a welcoming acoustic for this landmark music of the high Renaissance.